Transcription

A true and farther particular Account of the whole tran-sactions of these Monsters of Iniquity, the (supposed)Violaters and Murderers of that unfortunate womanMargaret Paterson.

The following melancholy and fatal accident is copied from thisday's (Tuesday's Observer.)....

Distressing Accedent. ?Yesterday morning two slaters, employedin repairing the roof of the Sugar-house, Canongate, were precipi-tated to the ground, from the fastening of the ladder on which theywere standing giving way ; when one of them was killed on thespot, and the other died in the course of the afternoon.

Thomson is aged from 20 to 22 years, and unmarried ; Dobie,who is about 28 years of age, is married, and has two children.

Strange to relate this country, which used to boast itself somuch of the fancied moral superiorty of its people over thoseof the sister kingdoms, has been disgraced by the commission of aseries of crimes so novel in their character, and arguing such a degreeof hardened depravity or calculating villany upon the part of theperpetrators, as to astonish the whole world. We have had Burkeand Hare coolly pursuing deliberate murder as a trade, we have hadStewart or Broadfoot, and his female associate, carrying on a systemof robbery by administering a fatal drug to those whom they hadmarked out as their intended victims; and it is but the other daythat the remorseless Emond expiated on the gallows the innocentblood which he had so inhumanly shed to gratify his causelessrevenge.

But we have how to state to the natives of Scotland, (this moralcountry) that a crime has been committed which throws into theshade Bulk, (Stewart) Broadfoot, and Emond, and which, we believe,never happened in any spot in Modern Christendom. The unfor-fortunate woman, Margaret Paterson, met Dobie and Thomson, atGrayfield, and asked them for a ride, as she thought they belongedto Dalkeith. They told her they were going round to Gilmerton,and proposed conveying her to that place, provided she would givethem some whisky. The unfortunate woman agreed to this pro-posal, and the parries in consequence adjourned to a public-housenear the toll-bar, where the carters called and paid for two gills, andMargaret Paterson for an equal quantity, which was all drank.They then set out for Gilmerton, by the Craigs road, which runsbetween Sunnyside and the property immediately adjoining, fromthe Dalkeith road on the east, till it reaches the Gilmerton or New-battle road, on the west, a little to the northward of the village ofGreenend. The carters did not stop at Greenend, but pursuedtheir course towards Gilmerton; bent apparently, on the perpetra-tion of the crime, which there is but too much reason to believethey soon afterwards committed, within a short distance of thatplace.

We cannot ascertain what time Dobie returned with or withouthis cart. It is evident, however, that Dingwall, a quarrier, foundThomson's cart at his door unattended, arid saw a woman's shawland other articles in it. Dingwall afterwards met Thomson, andsaid to him, 'You have had a woman in the cart,' to which he re-plied, " Oh, yes, she is coming behind.' We understand that onthe Tuesday after this foul and unnatural murder was committed,Dobie made the treatment of Margaret Paterson a subject of mirthin a smithy at Greenend. We know the very words the ruffianmade use of on this occasion, but as we cannot pollute the ears ofour citizens in describing it in English, we refrain from translating it into any other language.